A sign posted on the scoreboard of Papa John's Cardinal Stadium welcomes the return of Bobby Petrino as the Louisville Cardinals' new head football coach on Thursday. / Timothy D. Easley, AP

by Jonathan Lintner, USA TODAY Sports

by Jonathan Lintner, USA TODAY Sports

University of Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich said he heard from about 100 of Bobby Petrino's former football players, among them 20 or so professionals, during the brief search that led to Petrino's hiring Thursday.

"I've never, ever in my career seen an outpouring like this for someone," Jurich said at a news conference announcing Petrino's return to Louisville, where he went 41-9 from 2003-2006.

"They just clamored for this guy â?¦ and they've been through his style."

Petrino has coached his college teams to eight winning seasons in nine years. Four of those were 10-win seasons, and before that he assembled 31 years of experience as an assistant.

Louisville provided input from a few noted players under Petrino in his first stint at Louisville:

Michael Bush, now with the Chicago Bears after playing running back at Louisville from 2003-2005: "Coach Petrino meant a lot to me. He helped me get here [to the NFL] where I am at today. His style of offense was like a pro-style attack. He demanded a lot of discipline out of his team and those things really help you as a young player."

Deion Branch, a U of L receiver during Petrino's time as offensive coordinator who went on to win three Super Bowls: "I only spent a brief time with Coach Petrino at Louisville, but in that time I worked with him I was able to witness first-hand how thorough he is in his preparation. His players will soon see that he has been successful because he works so well with his players getting them prepared and in position to succeed. He is a brilliant coach."

Eric Wood, a former U of L lineman from 2005-2007 who plays for Buffalo Bills: "Coach Petrino is an unbelievable football coach. I can attribute much of my success on the field to the work ethic and technique that Coach Petrino instilled in me."

Stefan LeFors, Petrino's first quarterback as a head coach: "Coach Petrino demands perfection and gets the best out of his players. His ability to create a game plan and to be able to adjust on the fly is unbelievable. It all starts on the practice field for Coach Petrino. The pace and tempo of practices were lightning fast and tough. His mentality of 'practice is hard so that games are easy' definitely applied to us at Louisville."

Other former players talked up Petrino on their social media accounts, such as New York Jets running back Bilal Powell: "U of L won't miss a beat with Bobby P coming back."